Just as Hazrat Muhammad (saw), and his companions landed from their rides, and laid the loads down, it was decided that they would sacrifice a lamb for dinner.
One of the companions volunteered: "I will sacrifice the lamb."
Another: "I will skin it."
Third: "I will cook it."
Fourth: " I will ..."
Hazrat Muhammad (saw): "I will gather the wood from the desert."
The group: "O Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (saw) it is not becoming of you to discomfort yourself as such. You rest. We will be honored to do all this on our own."
Hazrat Muhammad (saw): "I know that you are eager to do it all, but Allah isn't pleased with the slave who distinguishes between himself and his companions, and considers himself better than others."
Then Hazrat Muhammad (saw) went to the desert, and gathered some wood, and brought it to the group.
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A person shouldn't degrade a person or think of himself as superior just because he thinks he's better, has more money, or is a leader of some group. That person should think of himself as equal to the one beside him and if he so called is the leader of something, he should take charge of the operation like the Prophet (SAWS) did and help thinking of everyone as his equals, nothing more nothing less. =]
One should also not degrade themselves in front of others, it has the same negativity as thinking of yourself as the superior.
http://www.ezsoftech.com/stories/rasool1.asp
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and the Sacrifice of the Lamb
Netflix, Wal-Mart sued for allegedly colluding
Netflix, the Web's No. 1 video rental service, and Wal-Mart are being accused in a class-action lawsuit of unfairly setting prices for their rental services.
According to the Web site of Video Business, the suit was filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court, Western District of Arkansas. The lead plaintiff, Marci Badgerow, alleges that Wal-Mart agreed in 2005 to exit the online rental business in exchange for Netflix's termination of DVD sales, according to Video Business.
The plaintiffs argue that the agreement promotes unfair trade and is illegal. They assert that the pact harmed customers because it allowed Netflix to raise its monthly subscription price from $14.99 to $17.99, according to the report. Wal-Mart denied any wrongdoing.
"We made our own independent decision to exit the DVD rental business and our subsequent agreement with Netflix is entirely proper," said Michelle Bradford, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. "We intend to defend vigorously our decisions regarding the products and services offered to our customers."
A Netflix spokesman declined to comment.
The two companies were accused in a similar suit filed in Northern California earlier this month of conspiring to restrict competition and unfairly control pricing.
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If whatever they are doing is harming me, the customer, then I'm against Wal-mart and Netflix, but if it doesn't affect me, then they can go on doing whatever they want. All i can say is, naught, naughty, Wal-mart and Netflix =]
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10153706-93.html?tag=mncol
Yahoo drops its Briefcase
Yahoo plans to discontinue its Briefcase service, which allows people to store files online for free.
The service will be shut down on March 30, the company said Wednesday. Yahoo is warning users to retrieve or delete their documents before that date.
Briefcase, which offered 30MB of online storage, was launched almost 10 years ago. However, "usage has been significantly declining over the years, as users outgrew the need for Yahoo Briefcase and turned to offerings with much more storage and enhanced sharing capabilities," the company said in a statement.
There are now many alternative online storage services to Briefcase. Notable rivals include Microsoft's SkyDrive, a Windows Live service that offers 25GB of free storage.
There are also signs that Google may be preparing a free online storage product called GDrive. Recent reports have pointed to a reference to GDrive in an online, recently updated file associated with its Google Pack bundle of free software, which includes Chrome and Picasa. The file text says that GDrive "provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents [and] allows you to access your files from anywhere, any time and from any device - be it from your desktop, web browser or mobile phone."
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+*This is the first time I've heard about Yahoo Briefcase
With so many other places to store your stuff, i personally don't think there is a need for Yahoo Briefcase, but if you do use Yahoo Briefcase, i recommend you take your files out of there and put them somewhere else before you desperately need those files and cannot have access to them.
GDrive sounds pretty cool. =]
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10153479-2.html?tag=mncol
The myth of width: When wide screens don't work
Before I slam the move to wide-screen computers, I will gladly admit that for entertainment content, wide-screen works. Our eyes are side-by-side, after all, and having a story unfold in a way that more closely respects how we see gives a more engrossing, absorbing experience. Wide-screen plasma and LCD television sets make sense, as do CinemaScope movie theaters.
But when we have work to do, the fact that our eyes are set up to spot a herd of jackals approaching us over the plain becomes irrelevant. For most people, the world of work is in portrait mode, and wide-screen displays offer scant benefits.
Like reading a page of text or a book, most Web sites are set up with strong vertical orientation. That works for text-based material, since wide lines of text, longer than about 60 characters, become hard to read (the reader has a hard time finding the beginning of the next line).
The original source of my complaint, but almost all laptops today are wide-screen.(Credit: CBS)
What happens with modern "stretchy" sites or apps that let the user read text in a wide-screen format where line lengths get long? Pages get tiring or hard to read.
One argument given for wide-screen monitors is that they allow users to put two pages or applications side-by-side, for easier comparison. This is true, but in many cases it comes at the expense of usability for single apps. Most popular sizes of wide-screen displays show fewer vertical pixels than the more-square sizes they directly replaced, reducing the amount of text that can be comfortably shown on one screen without scrolling.
People who work with spreadsheets may take exception to this, as do those who use very large monitors that have sufficient vertical resolution. But for most people, more square, or even portrait-mode monitors would actually be easier to read.
HP TouchSmart tx2z
So, we were cautiously optimistic with the TouchSmart tx2z. The good news? As HP's first multitouch convertible tablet, it's got a lot of potential.
First off, the tx2z's touch interface has improved. The marketing jargon for the expanded interface is "capacitive multitouch technology" which translates to sophisticated multifinger gestures like pinching, rotating, flicking, double-tapping and dragging for navigation. The big difference is that these functions aren't buried within a touch-based software suite. Want to zoom/shrink, or scroll within programs like Firefox, MS Office, or even the desktop? All it takes is a little pinching and poking on the tx2z's screen. Although the 12-inch display doesn't provide tons of space for all the hot finger-on-touchscreen action, it's a small quibble given the screen's overall responsiveness.
Converting from notebook to tablet also proved painless, thanks to a solid hinge and the included pen. After swinging the 1280 x 800 screen around (and folding it back), we found two goodies. First, using the pen automatically disables the touchscreen (to prevent palm-related havoc), and second, HP included an active digitizer for handwritten input. This made reckless activities like e-mailing while strolling around the block surprisingly easy. Even jotting down quick notes using a finger (instead of the pen) gave us minimal hassle.
Unfortunately, HP didn't build the otherwise decent tx2z on the strongest foundation. Even with its 2.4-GHz AMD Dual Core processor and 4 GB of RAM, the 64-bit version of Vista it shipped with ran freakishly slow. Granted, a lot of the lag was due to the ridiculous amount of bloatware that launched during startup — but a five-minute boot-up on a spanking new notebook is unforgivable.
Holding down the graphics department was ATI's integrated Radeon 3200 GPU, which produced similarly mixed results. We'll put it this way: Gaming and light photo editing is technically possible, but heavy use of any graphic-intensive app is pretty much out of the question. However, when we weren't trying to eke out a couple dozen extra frames in Crysis, the 3200 sufficed.
So, here's the skinny: As a productivity-driven, convertible tablet, the tx2z is a solid offering. Both the touch and pen-based interfaces were responsive, and proved useful across a number of on-the-go work applications. We would've enjoyed a few more gestures thrown into the mix for a little more, uh, "razzle dazzle" but it's clear that HP focused on core navigation &mdash which is fine.
However, when it comes to non-touch/tablet functionality, the tx2z is largely old hat. If you're looking for a highly portable (and reasonably priced) convertible, it's worth a look. Otherwise, you're better off snagging a more even-keeled rig.
WIRED Fully baked as both a touch and tablet device. Travels well with its compact and stylish chassis. Includes quick keys for rotating screen orientation. Mini media remote and pen conveniently hide away in chassis. Altec Lansing speakers strike decent balance between volume and clarity. Extra goodies aplenty: biometric security, webcam, dual headphone jacks, 802.11n compatibility and 5-in-1 card reader.
TIRED Bloated OS hinders performance of otherwise decent specs. Occasionally laggy switches between notebook and tablet mode. No multi touch love for the trackpad. Terrible viewing angles and weak visibility in direct sunlight. Fan sounds like a leaf-blower at a My Bloody Valentine show
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The young girl who isn't an atheist like her teacher~
A young woman teacher with obvious liberal tendencies explains to her class of small children that she is an atheist. She asks her class if they're atheists too. Not really knowing what atheism is but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy fireworks. There is, however, one exception. A beautiful girl named Zainab has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. "Because I'm not an atheist."Then, asks the teacher, "What are you?" "I'm a Muslim." The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Zainab why she is a Muslim. "Well, I was brought up knowing and loving God. My mom is a Muslim, and my dad is a Muslim, so I am a Muslim." The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly, "what if your mom was a moron,and your dad was a moron, - what would you be then?" She paused, and smiled. "Then," says Zainab, "I'd be an atheist."
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Ahaha, the title kinda ruins the story. The lesson we should learn from this story is that you should be proud you are a Muslim and you shouldn't be afraid to express that even when when everyone is doing the opposite or they just don't want you to. Don't be a mor**, be a Muslim. =]
http://www.islamcan.com/cgi-bin/increaseiman/htmlfiles/static/99319713072654.shtml
White House Tech More Tired Than Wired
Prior to his inauguration, Barack Obama was, without a doubt, eagerly anticipating taking his seat in the Oval Office. What he likely wasn't looking forward to was time-traveling backward into a workplace riddled with obsolete technology.
Any tech geek recognizes that modern technology is far more than a means to an end: Whether we own iPods, Zunes, MacBooks, iPhones or BlackBerry smartphones, our gadgets have become intimately integrated into our lifestyles. So you have to feel the pain of Obama and his team, who drove the most tech-savvy presidential campaign in history, for having to cope with the White House's bureaucratic IT swamp.
"It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of the White House's outdated tech.
Here, we run down a list of what's known about tech in the White House, with our classic "Wired or Tired" rating method. This time, we'll start with the Tired stuff first.
TIRED
Windows XP
The White House's computers are running 6-year-old versions of Microsoft software, reports The Washington Post. Supposedly, the White House's reasoning for stalling on upgrades is to maintain security and preserve documents held under the Presidential Records Act.
Can anyone say "virus infection"? While it's true the White House dodged a widespread internet virus in 2007, there's no guarantee a more vicious virus won't eventually infiltrate the White House. There are at least 3,000 new Windows viruses emerging each day, after all, according to Symantec.
Why not transition to the Mac? The virus "threatscape" is virtually nonexistent on the Mac; security experts agree the Mac operating system is architecturally more secure than Windows out of the box. Run some security software on the Mac and you've easily got a far more secure computer setup in the White House than if they were running Windows.
As for the documents preserved by the President Records Act — how difficult can it be to create backups and transfer everything over? Documents and messages copy over easily to a Mac system.
Besides, Obama and his team were Mac users before they even stepped into office. Give these people their Macs.
No Wi-Fi
The White House has no Wi-Fi, according to FoxNews. That's no surprise, given how easy it is to crack Wi-Fi encryption schemes.
But if the U.S. military gets all the cool tech first, the White House can, too, right? This would be a good opportunity to test out Boston University's Wi-Fi transmitting light bulbs. The tech involves LED bulbs, which flicker at imperceptible speeds to communicate with Wi-Fi enabled devices. This way, a hacker would have to be inside the White House in order to hack into its network, and he or she would be made visible under the light.
No Instant Messaging Allowed
White House staff are banned (.pdf, page 11) from communicating by instant messaging, according to Andrew Rasiej, co-founder of the blog TechPresident. That's for the sake of preventing casual talk from leaking out of the White House and onto the web.
That's understandable, but some chat clients, such as Adium, offer the option to encrypt chats, turning your chat logs into unintelligible characters and numbers if accessed without authorization. Plus, the Obama team has already proven with the president's Twitter account that it's pretty good at handling its own PR, right?
No Screwing Around on Websites, Either
Remember George W. Bush? When he was prez, the White House IT department banned sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, according to Slate. There's no word on whether the new regime will reverse those bans, but for now, it's a fair bet that you won't be able to friend anyone in the West Wing.
WIRED
iPods
Former President Bush is known to have had an iPod. But there were some restrictions on accessing new music. During Bush's tenure, only two people had access to the iTunes Store: The president's personal aide, who downloaded tunes onto George W.'s iPod, and David Almacy, Bush's director for Internet and e-communications, who uploaded the president's speeches to iTunes. (I wonder what was in Bush's Top 25 Most Played? Creed, perhaps?)
Flatscreen Monitors and TVs
Theresa Payton, White House chief information officer from 2006, told FoxNews that big, flat displays are widely used in the White House. Can't see why not — so long as they're not watching Paris Hilton's My New BFF during work hours.
E-Mail
It's widely known that Bill Clinton sent only two e-mails during his presidential term. That's because under the Presidential Records Act, all correspondence must be archived and eventually made public, so Clinton sensibly kept his more ... personal ... communications offline. (Of course, Bush's political advisers demonstrated there are ways to circumvent the policy.)
Regardless of the rules, it was simple enough for the press office, with approval from the White House Counsel, to set up personal Gmail accounts as alternative e-mail addresses, according to The Washington Post.
BlackBerry
The president this week achieved a personal victory when he entered the White House cradling his BlackBerry, which many speculated he would have to give up. How did he pull off keeping it? Protecting it with some sort of supersecure encryption, according to reports. Just what exactly that encryption is, no one will say — for obvious reasons.
White House staffers are entitled to BlackBerry smartphones as well, according to FoxNews.
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Woah! I thought the White House was supposed to be all teched-out and stuff, but people there cant even go on YouTube. Well, at least President Obama got to keep his Blackberry=].
They should really change the running software on their computers though. Possibly, change to Mac from Windows.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/wired-or-tired.html
The Car of the Future Promised for October
The car of the future is almost here.
Aptera Motors has rolled out the first pre-production model of the 2e, an all-electric three-wheeled two-seater that gets the equivalent of 200 mpg and goes 100 miles on a charge. It's a significant milestone for the Southern California startup, which plans to put the first cars in driveways by Halloween and looks like a contender to win the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize.
"Everything is progressing nicely as we ramp up for full production of the 2e beginning in October," says chief marketing officer Marques McCammon. "We're still on target to build an ultra-efficient, high-mileage vehicle without sacrificing comfort and safety, and once Californians get behind the wheel this fall, we expect to change the world of commuter transportation."
In recent months, it has become clear that automakers big and small are focusing on electric vehicles as the next evolution of the automobile. If Aptera manages delivering its super streamlined cars nine months from now, the 2e will be among the first mass-market, relatively affordable (at $25,000 to $45,000) EVs on the road.
And that would be a testament to the power of the $10 million X-Prize to spur innovation.
The 3-year-old company funded by Google, Idealab and others is among at least 20 teams competing in the X-Prize race to build the world's first mass production-ready vehicle that exceeds 100 mpg.
Most of the major automakers rolled into the Detroit auto show with EV concept cars, with Ford and Chrysler among the companies promising to begin putting cars with cords on the road in 2010. Tesla Motors has been building its all-electric Roadster for almost a year now, and Fisker Automotive says it will begin producing its $87,900 plug-in hybrid next fall.
But despite their advanced drivetrains, all those vehicles look like regular cars. The 2e is like nothing else in the auto industry, which might be why it scored a cameo in Star Trek. With its sleek, three-wheeled design, the 2e looks like something Spock might cruise around in. A lithium-ion battery powers an electric motor that can propel the car from zero to 60 in less than 10 seconds on its way to a top speed of 90 mph.
High performance obviously isn't the 2e's strong suit, but who cares when you're getting the equivalent of 200 mpg? Making the car as slippery as possible is key to the car's impressive efficiency. With a coefficient of drag around 0.15, the 2e is even more aerodynamic than the General Motors EV1, the most aerodynamic production car ever built.
The 2e's ultralight weight of just 1,700 pounds also contributes to its efficiency. But don't worry, the car's front crumple zone, race car-like passenger safety cell and airbags will keep everyone inside safe. Aptera says there's enough room inside to haul around 15 bags of groceries, two sets of golf clubs or a surfboard.
Aptera will flog the pre-production model mercilessly to ensure durability and safety are up to snuff. The 2e differs from an earlier prototype called the Typ-1 in several significant ways. Front-wheel drive replaces the prototype's belt-driven rear wheel to improve weight distribution and traction, the rear-view camera was ditched in favor of mirrors, and wider doors make it easier to get in and out. The interior is a little slicker too, with a stereo, roll-down windows and solar-assisted climate control (check out the PV cells on the roof).
In other words, the 2e has evolved from a spartan runabout into a real car. Aptera says it's already received 4,000 deposits from potential buyers, who will receive a car that Aptera says should look pretty much like the model shown here.
"We're getting close to finalizing our final prime-time vehicle, but there's still a lot of work to accomplish," company chief Paul Wilbur says.
Of course, nothing is certain in this economy, and the auto industry is taking such a beating that even Toyota is hurting, so there's no guarantee Aptera will meet its goal. And it's hardly the first startup to think it can beat Detroit at its own game. But Wilbur's spent more than 25 years in the auto industry, doing everything from product planning and development to bean counting for the likes of Ford and Chrysler, so he's got some idea what it takes to build a car.
"We now have to make the final refinements in the upcoming months, squeezing out every ounce of positive performance, and then we'll have the first safe, affordable all-electric vehicle on the market," he says.
Affordable is a relative term when you're talkin' EVs, and the 2e is expected to cost you something more than $25,000 but less than $45,000. That's a pretty wide range, and it includes such mass-market cars as the next-gen Toyota Prius hybrid, the forthcoming Chevrolet Volt range-extended EV and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric city car that may or may not be coming to America.
The first models will be classed as motorcycles and available only in California, but Aptera hopes to sell it nationwide and then get to work on a new model. "We hope to change everyday driving forever," Wilbur says.
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THIS CAR LOOKS AWESOME!! Adding to the stunning appearance, this car is also more Eco-friendly than the average car of today. I cant wait for this to come out and if the company delivers what they're saying, this car will be on the market a little while before I'll be allowed to drive legally. So its all good.B)
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/01/1st-pre-product.html
LG's New Watch Phone! =D
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This watch has a bunch of useful options, it can be a phone, an mp3 player and it even has a camera. I wouldn't mind wearing this handy gadget around everywhere. I wonder, does it have to be charged or does it run on batteries.
=]
http://www.wired.com/video/latest-videos/latest/1815816633/lgs-new-watch-phone/8699289001
25 Years of Mac: From Boxy Beige to Silver Sleek
It's the 25th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh, but Steve Jobs' eyes are dry. At the company headquarters in Silicon Valley, where he was presenting a set of new laptops to the press last October, I mentioned the birthday to him. Jobs recoiled at any suggestion of nostalgia. "I don't think about that," he said. "When I got back here in 1997, I was looking for more room, and I found an archive of old Macs and other stuff. I said, 'Get it away!' and I shipped all that shit off to Stanford. If you look backward in this business, you'll be crushed. You have to look forward."
Here's what's amazing about the Mac as it turns 25, a number that in computer years is just about a Googleplex: It can look forward. The Mac's original competition—the green-phosphorus-screened stuff made by RadioShack, DEC, and then-big kahuna IBM—now inhabit landfills, both physically and psychically. Yet the Macintosh is not only thriving, it's doing better than at any time in its history. Much of the attention directed at Apple over the past few years has focused on new products like the iPod and the iPhone. Click wheels and touchscreens have distracted us from the news that the Mac market share has quietly crept into double digits. That's up from barely 3 percent in 1997, just before the prodigal CEO returned to the fold after a 12-year exile. Any way you cut it, the Mac is on the rise while Windows is waning. Roll over, Methuselah—the Macintosh is still peaking.
What's behind this autumnal upswing? Apple COO Tim Cook lists six factors: better computers, better software, seamless compatibility with Windows, marketing acumen, successful retail stores, and the belly flop of Microsoft Vista. (Redmond's lame new OS was merely the last straw; over the past two decades, millions have switched from PCs to Macs.) But the larger story of Apple's rebirth begins with the return of its co founder. Jobs called the company he came back to a "beautiful Porsche speedster that had been sitting in a field. And it got really dirty, covered with mud." He slashed the product line, Picasso-ized the design, launched a wildly successful chain of retail stores, and turned the annual Apple keynote address into the high tech equivalent of a popcorn blockbuster. And yes, Apple did make better computers than its rivals.
Those original Mac rebels (including their leader) are now in their fifties, but the Mac itself has managed to avoid middle-age wrinkles and creaky joints. Forever young, it's associated more with Millennials than geezers, even though many Millennials weren't even born when that famous first commercial—Ridley Scott's "1984" spot—ran during Super Bowl XVIII. The Mac is Obama, Microsoft is McCain. Computer scientist Paul Graham summed it up in a famous online essay in 2007: "Windows," he wrote, "is for grandmas."Generally, when products go mass market, they lose their edge. So it's remarkable that with 30 million users, being a Mac person is still a statement. If the Mac share keeps growing, will that stay true? If 50 million people are using Macs, does that mean they're still "thinking different"? How about 100 million?
We may just find out.
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Even though it may not seem like it to Steve Jobs, i think whatever Mac has achieved from 25 years ago to today is a big deal and the designs of their products have improved drastically. aaand, i just felt like saying that i like the picture above, it looks colorful and techie, Good PIC MAC!
What do you think would happen if Windows and Mac teamed up? ( i don't think they want to though) =]
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-01/ff_mac
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wireless Power Energizes Many Devices
Powermat displays new wireless charging systems at CES 2009, a convenient wireless alternative to mobile phone, computer and appliance chargers. The system uses magnetic induction to transfer energy to almost any device.
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This could come in handy for a lot of people, coughcoughme, especially when i lose my phone charger. Now, if only they could invent a way to track my phone, which i seem to be losing a lot of lately D; aannd i lo0ve the glowy blue color in the water!!
http://www.wired.com/video/gadgets/ces-2009/6310841001/wireless-power-energizes-any-device/6751413001
Online Threat to Kill Obama Leads to Arrest
A Southern California man was charged Thursday with threatening a presidential candidate, for posting a racist note to a Yahoo message board in October expressing displeasure over Barack Obama's candidacy, and predicting "he will have a 50 cal in the head soon."
Walter Edward Bagdasarian, 47, was found with an arsenal of six weapons when Secret Service agents raided his La Mesa home in November, according to court records (.pdf). He had three handguns and three rifles, including a 30.06 with a telescopic sight and a Remington .50 caliber muzzle-loading rifle.
Bagdasarian is not accused of actually plotting against Obama, and he was released last month on a $100,000 real estate bond. Bagdasarian's attorney did not return a phone call Friday.
The post in question showed up on a Yahoo Finance board on Oct. 22, about two weeks before the election, under the handle "californiaradial." The message was titled "Shoot the nig."
"County fkd for another 4+ years, what nig has done ANYTHING right???? Long term???? Never in history, except sambos."
"Fk the niggar, he will have a 50 cal in the head soon," the message concludes.
The message thread has been deleted by Yahoo, but traces in Google's cache show that several other users announced that they were reporting californiaradial's comments. In subsequent posts, the author calls one critic a "crybaby," but does offer an explanation for the apparent threat. "I was drunk."
U.S. Secret Service agents in Los Angeles traced the post to Bagdasarian through the IP address. When they interviewed him, Bagdasarian reportedly admitted authoring the message.
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Why does everyone want to kill everyone? I mean i want to kill some people too but that doesn't mean I'm going to start planning on it. I wouldn't even think of how i would kill that person. I just try to forget that person or take revenge inside my head. How can people actually go and commit or try to commit murder. People like that should just go get a life and some other hobby, like knitting or combing cats or something. Stop hatred, spread love! =]
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/threat.html
Interface Controlled by Hand Gestures
At CES 2009, Toshiba showed off a conceptual computer interface that uses hand gestures for control. With simple motion sensing technology and a software interface, Toshiba hopes to open up applications for video games and other interactive media.
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That looks AWEsome! I WANT THAT!!!!! That Interface has that shiny shiny feel and like shiny shiny. Maybe we can get further with this kind of technology and use it for more and better purposes. =] Even though it looks really cool, it seems like your hands would get tired after a while, it would be handy if they had a regular mouse equipped with it.....ooorrr maybe a MIND CONTROLLED THINGIE attached to it. Would your mind get tired after controlling the interface too much? Hmmmmmm... i wonder. :)
http://www.wired.com/video/latest-videos/latest/1815816633/conceptual-interface-is-controlled-by-hand-gestures/6750621001
Gaza War's New Front: Facebook
But as the Financial Times notes, social networking site Facebook has become an important venue in the Arab world for protesting the Israeli campaign, as well as a potent fundraising tool for supporters of the Palestinian cause.
Correspondent Abeer Allam writes from Riyadh:
Of course, Israel has plenty of Facebook friends as well. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported today how Matt Freelander, a young Jewish Londoner, organized a pro-Israeli demonstration through Facebook; around 1,000 people showed up for the rally. Radio Netherlands notes another Facebook site that aims to round up a million supporters of Israel.
The 10 Most Disappointing Games of 2008
The games below, chosen by the usual panel of Wired.com contributors, is in no way supposed to be a list of the worst games of 2008. Those are all for the Wii, cost $10, are about dogs and/or babies, and we wouldn't be caught dead playing them. No, these are the games that let us down the most this year. Most of them are actually good games. But they failed to live up to the hype, or didn't deliver on their promises. Perhaps we were just left wanting more. Either way, here are our Most Disappointing Games of the year:
10. Age of Conan (PC)
9. Tom Clancy's EndWar (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)
8. Too Human (Xbox 360)
7. Stalker: Clear Sky (PC)
6. Mirror's Edge (Xbox 360, PS3)
5. Dead Space (Xbox 360, PS3)
4. Prince of Persia (Xbox 360, PS3)
3. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3)
1. Spore (PC)
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I'm kinda surprised Mario Kart is in this list. Even though i have never owned or shown much interest in this game, i heard a lot of people have it and that they like it too. Now i know which games i shouldn't buy, so a thanks from me to wired.com is owed. If you want to know why these games are on the disappointments list more in detail, go to the site below.
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/disappointing-g.html
Hotel 747 Now Boarding !~
Last year we told you about Oscar Dios, a Swede with a wacky idea: Park a retired Boeing 747 outside the Stockholm airport, and turn it into motel for the budget-minded traveler. His vision has become a reality, with Dios' 25-room, 85-bed Jumbo Hostel scheduled to open next week.
The Jumbo Hostel is now accepting reservations on its website for stays beginning Jan. 15. Dorm rooms start at 350 Swedish kronor ($45), with deluxe private rooms at $1,350 Kroner ($175). For even more, you can spend the night in the plane's cockpit, which has been converted to a sort of honeymoon suite and is the only room on the plane with its own bathroom and shower.
Dios' vision for the Jumbo Hostel has up to now been limited to a series of conceptual drawings, but last week he invited a reporter from Britain's Guardian aboard for a look at the place. The paper posted video of the tour (narrated by an extremely monotonic reporter) on its website, and it provides some interesting new details on Dios' digs. For those of us who have done a lot of backpacking, the words hostel and claustrophobia are interchangeable, but judging from the Guardian footage, even rooms at the low end of Jumbo Hostel's price range look pretty good. Each dorm room is around 20 square feet, but because Dios was able to remove the cable and wiring that made the 747 fly, the ceilings are a spacious 13 feet high. Overhead bins have been bolted to the walls for storage, and all rooms have free wireless internet access, as well as flatscreen televisions that double as arrival-departure monitors.
The Jumbo Hostel might be cheap, but it still comes with some hotel-style extras . The 747's upper deck, which airlines often use as a lounge, will remain such, with the original seats and serving areas intact. The plane's first-class cabin has been turned into a cafe that seats 20 and is open to the public 24 hours a day. Passengers are also free to use the plane's emergency exits to step onto the wing and take a look around.
And if you're looking to catch an early flight, Jumbo Hostel's location can't be beat. It's just a 15-minute walk to the airport terminal, or you can catch one of the shuttles that runs every 7 minutes.
Beyond putting up weary travelers, Dios plans to offer guided tours of the plane to the public for around $10 each, and says he hopes to franchise the concept. Judging from the state of the airline industry, there should be some surplus planes Dios can snap up cheap.
Photos and images / Jumbo Hostel
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WOW! This looks pretty awesome to live in if you dont mind living in a small amount of space. Plus, you wont be late to your departure. I like the idea of staying in a small space for a little while, it'd feel cozy and i could get away from everyone for a little while. This will be an experience to be remembered and it will sorta feel like an adventure.=]
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/01/swedish-747-you.html
Amazon, Apple and the price of music
In the comments section of our scoop Monday on Apple's MacWorld announcement that it was doing away with copy-protection software and changing its pricing policy, many iTunes fans asserted the often repeated allegation that the four largest recording companies were giving Amazon a price break.
Not so, according to two music industry insiders with knowledge of the negotiations.
The suspicion has long been that the record labels want to help Amazon's fledgling music service compete against the Apple juggernaut. The labels have hoped that an iTunes alternative would emerge and dilute some of Apple's control over digital music sales. The reality is, say my sources, that Amazon, Wal-Mart and everybody else selling downloads is paying the same wholesale price as Apple.
"As long as a retailer pays the label's price they can sell songs for whatever they want," said one of the sources.
What this means is that Amazon, which offers many songs for 10 cents less than Apple's former standard price of 99 cents, has likely chosen to lose money on music sales, say the sources. It's generally believed that Apple's profit margin is just a few pennies per song.
Amazon's motivation is obvious. The company is battling the country's largest music retailer and the maker of the best selling music player. Amazon needs a competitive advantage.
That's going to be tougher to find now. Apple's announcement Tuesday that it will remove digital rights management from songs and offer more price flexibility, including the slashing of catalog titles or older music to 69 cents, is bad news for competitors--especially Amazon. Amazon representatives did not respond to an interview request.
I've been hard on iTunes recently for failing to provide customers with DRM-free music and over-the-air downloads. But the reasons to shop for music at any other Web store are quickly dwindling.
Amazon launched an MP3 store in September 2007 and tried to play up the fact that fans could get cheaper music at a higher quality and free of DRM?
While iTunes on Tuesday raised the price of hit songs 30 cents to ($1.29), catalog titles were reduced by 30 cents. And there are a lot more songs in the catalog category. Apple can now make the claim that iTunes is cheaper than Amazon on most music.
